You are in a grand foyer of a magnificent castle. The floor is decked in
a thick red carpet and the stone walls have been polished until it shines.
Obviously this castle entrance is not designed for the wear and tear of
combat troops, but for the greeting of noble visitors such as yourself.

A sign chained to the arched stone ceiling reads...

reetings and Welcome,
to Ye Castle of Anthony Thyssen, friend of dragons, collector of
runic icons, flyer of kites, and sorcerer of computer magic. This be my
home where I study the computational forces of the Great Web, and other
hobbies of mine. Feel free to wander and explore.

For the impatient, all the areas of major interest be directly reachable
via ye teleportation pentagram below this sign in the middle of
this foyer.

Enjoy thy stay. Anthony.

To your left is a softly glowing magical panel of runic buttons displaying
what appears to be an open inn keepers book and pen, and something called a
``mailbox''. It looks as if you just select what you want it to do.

In the middle of the corridor engraved on the floor in a circle where the
carpet gives way to dressed stone is a pentagram and a small podium
containing more of the runic buttons you saw on the magic panel to your
left. However only one of the buttons seems to have any description at
all. The arrangement seems to suggest that you should stand on the
pentagram and select one of the buttons on the control panel...

verbose listing

The passageway that makes up the foyer continues northward into the
castle proper. Ahead you can see the passage divide in all directions.

Just behind you is a huge set of iron bound oak doors at least a foot
thick are standing wide open to the world. A stony pot-holed track leads
from the castle toward a crossroads in front of the castle. Beyond you can
see a small village at the bottom of a gently sloping hill.

Further beyond the village and looking like it surrounds the castle is a
dark foreboding forest of tightly interwoven trees, which you vaguely
remember just escaping from. The forest you remember is called, ..ah..,
``The Forest of the Great Web'', or something like that. A very
chaotic place you can easily get lost in.